The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1887-06-03
FOUND A GAS WELL.
TIE HISTORY OF A REAL ESTATE
BOOM IN KANSAS.

Several Well Dressed strangers WISH IN"
Town of Greoieyville-The Results 10
che Resident PopuIation-A Discovery /
and Collapse
There was general stiGening Of prices
ii notient determination 10 wait ani see /
r., ,bc future would bring forth The PEG /
.1aof Greelevville were ia this frame of mind
H., several well dressed strangers arrived
IN town about two weeks ago ana began 10
i,o,,ir. aho,,t the value Of certain real estate.
Nothing serious was suspected al first hut IN
,he con,s, of few DAYS % was seen mat
,hov meant business Jim Bones farm, south
81 town which might have becu had month
400 for 500 was sold 90 the strangers for
s25D0 and they paid StD OF Do down II'ceS
went up right away, and when Jim urea 10
luy another place hc found that ne cOuiun
- ANYTHING within ten miles Of the jail
miles, he borrowed money The day alter
the sale the strangers announced that they
had discovered natural gas on the Bones
ulace. and. sure enough, that night the SKIES
in that direction were brilliantly Illuminated
The entire population turned out 20 see the
sight just back Of the shed which Jim had
used AS barn was an iron pipe, and from
the nozzle Of IL there issued ilarins and
spluttering flame Everybody stool speech
less except Jim, who raved and s"ore, and
tried b. pick a fight with one OF the visitors.
Other citizens interfered at this point, and "a
disturbance was prevented
aYou see said one u the strangers eve
are natural gas experts from fmn-y wanna.
We have been following this VEIN all the way
from Uni0ntOwu Some chaps from littsburg
got i'm ahead Of MS at point M Ohio where
we looked for d. and the same way down
near Terre Haute. Ind When we located 1t
there we found that we were ON the same
property that belonged 10 IA minor heir. and
we could mot get possession linen We tet OUT
for the west for we knew that it would reap
pear somewhere ont here. There were symp-
IONS iu Missouri and better prospects yet at
Iarned but this is more Ike No. Ihe thlns
don't work just right yet, though We VIII
bave 10 20 down further Some Of these wells
are five miles deep You can imagine what
is down below YOU here when tell you that
tbi, vein has been tapped at "a depth of only
forty feet haven't any doubt that at a fair
depth you can find gas enough here 10 illum
nate the continent
CALLED A TOWN MEETING.
The next day tine strangers called town
meeting and announced their intention of or
ganizng "a stock company for ihe purpose Of
developing the vein They had many other
enterprise ON hand, and as they would he
away much Of the time. they would like To-
have some interested parties ON the ground
"a al cool
salary. and they would have o. have am Office
where they could mature plans 90 distribute
the gas all over western Kansas and eastern
Colorado Mr. Kenyon, the banker, was
elected supniniendent at a salary of $1,000 "a
year. and "a fine room in his building was
rented as am Office. Il was i'm this place that
the stock was subscribed for
The terms were made easy enough 20 suit
almost anybody. The capital stock was 20
be 100000, and any man or woman who
could put mp no per cent was entitled To what
was wanted Even the preacher came in for
Il. OOJ ms parishioners putting mp the margin
for him ON the ground that when the Lords
bounty had been literally bestowed upon the
town il would not he right 90 permit his
chief servant 90 suffer through his poverty
The banker also advanced considerable
money for the weak sisters who had no ready
money, taking mortgages ON their farms or
stock. I'm this way $4,000 worth of stock
was taken In one day The discoveries posi-
lively refused 20 sell more than this, "a, they
said they always made it a point 20 retain "a
controlling interest in all property that they
developed This appeared reasonable, and
no complaints were made
A STARTLING DISCOVERY.
A few days later the strangers announced
that they would start for the east last Satur
day for the purpose of securing the proper
machinery. Before they left they gave sew
eral exhibitions of the power Of the gas,
generally at night They had a stop ON the
pipe. and when that was opened and q match
applied the flame blew up about two feet
and gave the greatest satisfaction. a watch
man was hired % guard the WELL and when
the gentlemen came TO leave a committee of
citizens escorted them 10 the railroad and
wished them a successful trip and "a speedy
return Sunday the entire town visited the
well and many attempts 10 experiment with
II were made Lum Huddlestou. the watch
man. warned the crowd away repeatedly.
aud at length was constrained o. strike a
man who persisted in meidlng with the stop
cock The fellow wa, from the northern
part Of the county. and he had been iu the
habit of doing about as he wanted Co. When
Lum hit him, therefore, he bic back, and be-
fore anybody could stop 50 there was fight,
In the course of which Lum was thrown
heavily against the pipe and the whole thing
came up 10y the roots About four feet under
the surface, and attached To the upright pipe,
was gasoline reservoir. and that wa, ALL
The panic that fell on the town was IN
descrihabe Every face hlanched Some
one said in the presence of the preacher that
1t was nothing but id cook stove. and he
was not rcbuked for the uiterance The
banker went back 90 his Office and put up a
card announcing that be had suspended for
ten days boo order 10 examine his books. The
farmers who mortgaged their farms TO him
held a meeting and agreed that If be took a
step toward foreclosure they would KIN him.
That is the way matters stand now. IL Is
said that the sharpers were Denver buncO
men New York Sun